I had the good fortune of being selected from East Mecklenburg High School as one of 21 students from the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System to visit Charlotte`s sister city, Baoding, China. Our group also spent some
time traveling in and around Beijing, or Peking, as most Americans might recognize it. Now I have one entry
into my passport and memories to last forever.
Baoding is considered a "small" city by Chinese standards - it has a population of only 1 million. The city
is located 90 miles south and three hours away from Beijing.
Baoding is just an ordinary city at first glance. My most memorable impression was great surprise at the huge
number of people. There were people everywhere - riding bicycles, walking on the sidewalk, crowding into buses
and just sitting at the curb watching everyone else. One question continually popped into my mind: Where are
all of these people going?
And speaking of riding bikes, I think everyone in China owns a bicycle - and it's black. Young children,
middle-aged men and women dressed in hose and heels can be seen at any time of the day riding bikes. One
of the best pictures I took was of a movie theater with about 3,000 bikes parked in the front.
In Baoding, our treatment was royal. Since the city does not have a hotel, we stayed in the Baoding Guest
House. The thoughtful owners bought toilet paper and had butter shipped in from Beijing especially for our
group. We occupied the entire first floor, and not one complaint was made about noise or our use of the
hot water, both of which I`m sure were excessive - after all, we're teenagers.
At mealtime, we were treated to such delicacies as squid, octopus, sea cucumber and even turtle soup,
complete with a whole turtle! Although the drinks were always warm, we could drink as many cans of Chinese
orange sodas as we wanted. You can find it everywhere. On the second day, when the table was set with forks,
we drew grins of appreciation when we all asked for chopsticks.
Walking around the city of Baoding was the most enjoyable part of any day. The temperature was always about 95
degrees, and sometimes the heat was extremely noticeable. Wherever we walked, which was usually to a drink vendor
with a refrigerated cart, people stared and followed. They were not being rude, but they were surprised to see
Westerners and interested in what we did. Everywhere we visited we drew a crowd. Our group went to a small store one
afternoon, and children tagged after us to see what we were buying and giggled whenever we looked at them.
All of the people were extremely friendly. A passerby was always ready to say "Nee-how" (Chinese for hello) in
response to our greeting, and some even would reply with a careful "Hello! How are you?" The hotel clerks were very helpful, also, including one man who tried for 20
minutes to plug in my hair dryer. (It never did work - among everyone in the group, there were 57 adapters and not one would fit in a socket.)
The most memorable event of the whole trip was a visit to the schools in Baoding. We visited Middle School No. 1 on a
Saturday - a disturbing fact to some of the
CMS students. Some students and faculty met us at the entrance and led us
to an auditorium filled with students. At first sight of us, the whole group stood and applauded for about 10 minutes.
Applause is the Chinese method of welcome, and I for one felt very welcome with these students from halfway around the world.
After a few opening remarks from both sides, we held a gift exchange, during which time we received lovely handmade
gifts such as painted handkerchiefs and ink drawings, and some other pleasant mementos, including postcards, Chinese
stamps and pins that read in Chinese "The Baoding Middle School No. 1." The students were very friendly and
happy to welcome us to their school and to China.
We toured some classes in the school and had the opportunity to talk with more students. Another sight that
impressed me was the common area, where students could play or just stand and talk. Scattered around were some
20 blackboards, all beautifully decorated with welcome messages and drawings. This demonstrated a great amount
of time and effort on the part of the students.
Our visit to Middle School No. 2 proved to be just as enjoyable. There, we received a lovely vase for
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Relic, one smaller vase for each of the 10 high schools and an
individual statue for each student. Later we saw those items in a store display, and although the cost was not that
great, those students had been collecting money all year to buy gifts for us. Knowing the sacrifice involved made the
gifts very special.
The trip to China was an exhilarating adventure. Our group saw an entirely different culture and people, heard a new
language and ate peculiar food for nine days. It was worth every penny, and I believe I'd go back in an instant, if
the plane trip weren't so darned long!
